Monday, August 12, 2013

NCHC Hockey: Shootouts in the NCHC?

I was out all weekend mowing grass at the hunting shack, so this isn’t as new as it could be. It still should add to the debate and feel free to chime in if you like. Or not! Perusing Brad Elliot Schlossman’s blog last week I see that he had this blurb on this media blog.

The NCHC has not finalized anything on shootouts yet, but I’m hearing that it is very, very likely that they will be used for Year 1. Official word on that could come fairly soon.

The point system would be sort of similar to the one used in the CCHA – 3 points for a regulation or OT win, 2 points for a shootout win, 1 point for a shootout loss, 0 points for a regulation loss. The one twist the NCHC is considering is giving a point for an OT loss like the NHL.

The games will still officially go down as a tie for NCAA tournament purposes. So, when I write game stories about a shootout, I will say the game ended in a time and Team A got an extra point for winning the shootout (as I do with WCHA women’s games now).

I think this is an awesome idea. If the NCAA is going to be looked at as developmental hockey league for the professional ranks, why not have a league that more closely resembles NHL play? Wouldn’t that make more sense? Of course it does. Sure, it sucks for the beat writers working on a dead line. Thoughts on the NCHC using shootouts to breaks ties during NCHC play? Also, I like the points system. Just for the record, I have never seen anyone ever leave a game because they went to a shootout. I don’t care what some say.